Total WA Government recurrent real expenditure on homelessness services has consistently increased over the last five years in real terms (2022-23 dollars) from $80.6 million in 2017-18 to $112.7 million in 2022-23. Over this same time period, real expenditure per person has increased from $31.4 to $39.9 (Figure 32).
Figure 32
As compared with recurrent spending on homelessness services, total recurrent real expenditure on social housing decreased from $1,017 million in 2016-17 to $603 million in 2021-22 before increasing significantly in 2022-23 to $758.3 million. Correspondingly, real expenditure per person decreased from $326 to $218 before rising sharply to $268 in 2022-23 (Figure 33).
Figure 33
Figure 34 presents trends in WA Government real capital expenditure on social housing. Real capital expenditure on social housing fell through the 2019-2020 to 2021-22 before rising sharply in 2022-23. The fall in real capital expenditure on social housing resulted in a fall in social housing stock. The significant increase in 2022-23 will act to arrest the decline in social housing stock. Recent budget decisions will result in further injections of real capital expenditure and assist in meeting the housing affordability and availability in Western Australia.
Figure 34
Figure 35 provides estimates of real expenditure by the Western Australian Government on both social housing and homelessness services between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
Figure 35
Index series
An index series was created to determine real expenditure on social housing (Figure 36) and homeless services (Figure 37) between States and Territories. The baseline used for this index was 2017-18 (100%), with an increase of the index greater than 100% representing a growth in expenditure.
Compared to 2017-18, real expenditure on social housing has increased by 34% for Western Australia compared to a 33% increase nationally. However, the increase in social housing has only occurred in the last two years. As can be seen in Figure 37, between 2017-18 and 2020-21, social housing expenditure in WA fell relative to other jurisdictions and was only 83-85% of that in 2017-18.
Compared to 2017-18, real expenditure on homelessness services has increased by 36% for Western Australia in 2022-23 compared to a 43% increase nationally.
